Community leader Carl T. Takamura has been appointed to AARP Hawaii’s Executive Council. Takamura brings extensive service in the educational, legislative and business arenas to the all-volunteer advisory board that shapes the 150,000-member organization’s strategic direction in Hawaii.

Takamura’s business experience includes stints as executive director of the Hawaii Business Roundtable and government affairs administrator for GTE Hawaiian Telephone Company. A two-term state legislator from 1974 to 1978, he later served as special assistant to Gov. George Ariyoshi and chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono.

He is a commissioner with the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, and a member of the National Board of the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education. He was a political science instructor at Windward Community College.

“We are delighted that Carl Takamura has volunteered to help AARP achieve its goal of empowering Hawaii residents age 50 and older to pursue their goals and dreams,” AARP Hawaii State Director Barbara Kim Stanton said. “In addition to extensive background in business and politics, Carl brings a longtime interest in elderly affairs, having served on the National Institute on Aging’s National Advisory Council, as well as the President’s Commission on Mental Health’s Task Panel on the Elderly.”

AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization with nearly 150,000 members in Hawaii. AARP helps people turn goals and dreams into real possibilities, strengthens communities, and fights for the issues that matter most to families – including healthcare, employment and income security, retirement planning, affordable utilities, and protection from financial abuse.